Joshua Wanyama
Joshua Wanyama was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He received a B.S. in Architecture at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2003. Immediately upon completion of his college degree, he started Spectrum Interactive Media, LLC.-a web design and development company in Minneapolis, MN.
With over 140,000 monthly visits and growing, Joshua’s new project the African Path and African Path Directory is the premier online destination for Africans online; providing daily breaking news and discussions on issues affecting Africans and Africa. With an engaging mix of breaking news in Africa, blogs, thoughtful discussion and an international community calendar, African Path is geared towards connecting Africans across the world in informed dialog that leads to progress and growth on the continent. The newly added directory is about promoting business linkages between entrepreneurs in or from Africa and businesses wishing to serve an African demographic.
LM: What drives you?
JW: I grew up having great interest in business, its systems and what makes some businesses successful while others failures. I have also had a deep love for the continent of Africa as opposed to just Kenya which is my home country. I believe that the solutions to most of Africa’s problems would work in all African countries. The process that would enable this to take place is sharing of information. There in nothing new under the sun and we need to find ways to collaborate, share information and solutions so that we can start having positive change in our lives and the lives of our children. Combining these two things into a coherent vision is what drives me.
LM: What experiences influenced your decision to start a business?
JW: I have always believed that one can’t expect change or something good to come out of sitting and waiting. If I want a better life for myself, I then have to go out and make it happen. The decision to start a business wasn’t a hard one for me since I knew while growing up that I wanted to have a business. Once I got out of college, I registered my first company and started working at building it.
LM: What formal education and/or training do you have or had to get to start your business?
JW: I went to school for Architecture but started a graphic design and web consultancy. Most of my training has been in the greatest schools of all. The business world and the public library. I make sure that I am reading or researching something new at all times.
LM: How did you get started?
JW: While in college, a friend brought a web site project to me and asked if I could help him design it. I took an HTML book and studied basic coding. Using my design skills, I was able to get the site done. It was one of my most enjoyable projects. We started pursuing more web projects and registered the company after I graduated.
As an extension of this experience, my web consultancy developed an online newspaper product that allowed small and mid sized newspapers to purchase and top of the line professional web sites for a lower rate. I thought it best to run one paper myself so I could gain valuable experience in advising clients on steps to take in order to make their websites successful. This is what gave birth to African Path.
LM: How did you determine what product and or service to sell?
JW: My love for the African continent and the fact that it is the fastest growing online marketplace with less branded sites meant it was a great market to get into. The challenge has always been to ensure relevance in all 53 individual markets in the African continent. News in Ghana is not the same as in Eritrea or Mauritania.
LM: What lessons have you learned from your first years in business?
JW: Business is a marathon. If you don’t have an endgame, processes of how to get past the early stages and methods to make the business work day to day, then you are in for some tough times. Early success is not an indicator of a sure bet neither are the ideas that got you to your current situation. Failure to innovate and grow is the death of your business.
LM: Who were the primary influences in your life as it relates to being an entrepreneur?
JW: My dad played a huge role in my interest in business. He ran an import/export business in Kenya and I was always fascinated with what he did.
LM: What has been your biggest success?
JW: The reception African Path has managed to get in the marketplace in awesome. I feel that the idea and brand of African Path was the correct one and it has been able to ignite some of the fire I feel for the project amongst others. It is great is realize that an idea is bigger than you.
LM: What has been your biggest disappointment?
JW: Throughout my previous experiences with the consultancy, I never looked for outside capital to fuel growth. The times I ran into any problems, 95% of them were due to under capitalization. I am determined to go about the development of African Path differently.
LM: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
JW: The people you work with are your greatest asset. If they don’t buy your vision, then you are limited to what you possess within yourself. If they do, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
